Snow globes are such a naturally innocuous artistic medium! Whether it’s an ironic Florida-themed one swirling with sand instead of snow, or a vision of the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree, they’re the sort of knickknacks that just screams “stocking stuffers for Grandma.” Which is why we were excited to find a pair of artists who were trying to revolutionize the form! Over the course of a 22-year-long collaboration, Walter Martin and Paloma Muñoz have created many great pieces together, but our personal favorites are the series of horrifying snow globes they’ve made for their “Travelers” series. (Like the Black Mirror Christmas special, they see the opportunity to creep us out with an innocent childhood treasure.) We love the snow-Shelob they’ve created above, but all of the globes raise questions we may not want to answer. Come take a break from the heat with a deeply unsettling celebration of winter!

If you honor a snow globe’s internal logic, you have to admit that any humans inside are trapped in an eternal winter. Here, the main character has to deal with a formidable pack of wolves:

Look, we don’t want to pry into anyone’s winter wonderland, but… what is she burying? And why doesn’t she need a coat?

And this may be our favorite! A celebration of one of winter’s greatest activities, ice skating, with a wonderfully uncanny puppet master conducting the action.

You can see more of Martin and Muñoz’ work (even some of the non-snow globe variety) here!